


Saying Goodbye is Never Easy (Afterdeath)

by JustYourAveragePerson



Series: One shots [varied] [4]
Category: Aftertale - Fandom, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Feels, Crying, Death, Flowers, Hurt No Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Short, Swearing, There's not a happy ending, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 04:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11433540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustYourAveragePerson/pseuds/JustYourAveragePerson
Summary: What once was thought to be unkillable dies. Those he knew regret the words they never spoke in time.





	Saying Goodbye is Never Easy (Afterdeath)

**Author's Note:**

> Includes an AU in which flowers grow where a monster dies. Black roses symbolize the death, and a single other that represents the monster.

Geno knows something is wrong instantly. He doesn't know how or why, he just has this overwhelming feeling that something is terribly wrong.

Trapped in the save screen, he has no choice but to pace back and forth, wondering in frustration what caused the feeling. Why the sense of impending doom seems so strong. Why anxiety creeps over when there's been nothing but silence in his little realm for days on end. Even Death has failed to appear, which was both a relief and disappointment. For as annoying as the reaper's constant flirting and sarcasm could be, he was one of the few constants Geno could depend on. He'd hate to lose him, too. He considers trying to reach out to him - Death had once said all Geno needed to do was call his name and he would appear. The skeleton almost doubted this - why would he ever need Death there? - but the silence and unease is getting to him. 

What could it hurt to just check in? Death might just be busy - he was a reaper, he handled multiple universes in his work of collecting and passing on souls. Maybe there were other timelines that had gone Genocide and he was just busy taking care of that. Geno half-hoped that was the case. He didn't even want to think about what the alternatives could be. Death was a god, so... he couldn't die. Right? Gods weren't supposed to be able to be killed. They were beings higher than anyone. They couldn't... Death had said it himself once. He could not be killed. Was that true, or... overconfidence?

The skeleton couldn't take it anymore. As much as he hated the idea, he needed to know he hadn't lost the person he'd come to depend on so heavily.

"Death?" 

Silence. He looks around. Waits a few seconds. Those few turn to ten, fifteen, thirty seconds. A minute passes and still nothing. 

"Death?" He calls again, a note of irritation in his voice. The reaper's just messing with him. Another minute passes.

"Death, if you're trying to mess with me, it's not funny! Get your godly ass over here or I swear I-"

"Apologies, dear." 

Geno spins around to see a familiar cloaked figure. He freezes, and for a second he's not even sure he's breathing. Because that awful feeling of unease? It had doubled- no, the intensity of it was overwhelming, past numbers, and now he knew why. 

"I didn't mean to make you wait so long, I was... indisposed." Death gave a small smile, he chuckled a little, but even through that Geno could tell Death was in immense pain. The reaper stepped forward stiffly, and in a flash Geno registered the blood dripping from the reaper's mouth, the hand pressed to his lower rib cage, the slowly widening stain around it. Death wobbles, and Geno rushes forward, just barely able to catch the other before he falls. 

"Death what the hell happened to you--?!" He talks fast as he lays the reaper down, looking concerned. 

"It would appear I am... not as resistant to damage as I thought," Death remarked dryly. "Unfortunate."

"You're not- why are you acting so acceptant of this?! Do you even care you're--" He can't say it. He can't force the words out.

"Do I care that I am on my deathbed, something I once thought impossible? Not-" He pauses, breath ragged, before going on. "...not quite. Do I care that I am leaving people behind for whom I care deeply...? Yes, I do."

That breaks it. Death wobbles, blurs, and vanishes as Geno squeezes his eyes shut, hot tears rolling down his skull.

"Why? Why did it have to be you? You  _absolute ass-- Why do I have to watch another one die?!_ " 

"Another... another person you... love..." Death's voice is quieter. Softer. "You... love me?"

"Yes," Geno manages to choke out through his tears, gently reaching down and lifting Death up against him, cradling the reaper. "For all the stupid shit you've pulled, for how annoying you get when you show up tipsy and recite the worst pick up lines I've ever heard, for all of it, I loved you.  _I loved you, dammit,_ and now I'm going to lose you too." 

Death considers. He lifts a trembling hand and presses it softly to Geno's cheek, wipes away what tears he can, takes comfort in knowing Geno is there. That in his last moments the skeleton will hold him.

"You'll be okay," he whispers, eyes locked with Geno's. "There's... a life for you out there. I've seen it... just... keep going, okay...? Don't give up..." He catches his dwindling breath and weakly pulls Geno closer. "For me... okay... do it for me...?"

Geno nods, his throat too tight for words, and next thing he knows his teeth are colliding with Death's and he feels the chill of the other's touch, and the scent and taste of iron - of blood - is almost overwhelming. But he doesn't back away, he wants this moment to last forever because if it does he won't lose the only person he had left. If this moment never ends Death will never die and Geno won't be alone.

But it ends, and he watches as Death smiles up at him one last time. He watches as the reaper's body crumbles away to nothing. And he watches as thorny vines take root around the pile of glittering remains and cover it with black roses. Fitting, he thinks numbly.

_Death would've liked these._

Perhaps it's a cruel joke on the universe's part when a single white lily blooms amidst the roses. A funeral flower, a remembrance of the dead. It seems to mock him, sitting there where the dust of the one he loved once lay; where he once stood and laughed and talked. 

Geno sits in silence. He has nothing now.

Nothing but silence.

He is alone.

Again.


End file.
